My home state of Vermont made me proud this week by bringing gigabit fiber connectivity to the lucky residents of the greatest state in the Union.

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The funding is integral to a smart grid initiative and broadband service based on an open-connectivity fiber optic backbone network.

WHITEHOUSE: Recovery Act Investment in Broadband

The company still has power from 750-kilowatt diesel generator and Internet connectivity from a fiber optic connection, and Barnett has been regularly updating his blog with firsthand reports of the disaster and its aftermath.

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ITU's development of technical standards, alongside the work of others, has played a key role in enabling connectivity and interoperability in today's powerful technologies of mobile including optical fiber, television, video compression, mobile, broadband and Internet.

CNN: Opinion: ITU meeting 'no threat to free speech'

Ad hoc Wi-Fi networks can stretch the fabric of Internet connectivity, cheaply and painlessly, over any community to points where traffic is aggregated onto high-speed fiber backbone networks.

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